


Oh What Fun to Play With Dogs and Snow

by CobraOnTheCob



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Additional characters that aren't named or not canon, Also the ending is really abrupt and I'm sorry, Forewarning that this was messily mashed together because I'm a fool, M/M, Stucky Secret Santa 2019, Stucky secret santa, This is why I should never procrastinate, and i'm very sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22044673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CobraOnTheCob/pseuds/CobraOnTheCob
Summary: The Avengers celebrate the holidays. Bucky and Steve adopt a new pet.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Kudos: 12
Collections: Stucky Secret Santa 2019





	Oh What Fun to Play With Dogs and Snow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BKLYN](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BKLYN/gifts).



> Brie, I'm so sorry your gift is really late. School was kicking me in the teeth, and I had very low energy to write.
> 
> The Prompts were: anything involving a dog (or multiple dogs!!), at least one scene with the team playing in the snow, and a little bit of hurt/comfort would be lovely
> 
> So this little AU takes place after Spider-Man: Far From Home, given that Endgame took place in October and FFH takes place in the summer.

Apparently, the winter holidays with the Avengers was something one should never miss. Last year the party was fairly small, since Tony was still recovering from Snapping Thanos’s Army and there was chaos all over the galaxy that needed to be settled. Nevertheless, Tony persuaded EVERYONE to be there, including Captain Marvel, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and even the Wakandan royal family. Thor got his hands on the invite list and invited as many Asgardians as he could. There may or may not have been a slight fight on Tony’s end that wound up with Clint owing Natasha fifty bucks and Tony having to hold Pepper back from confronting Thor on how they were going to fit the Asgardians in the newly rebuilt Avengers homebase. 

But Bucky could care less about that. 

Now, he and Steve were concerning themselves with raising a beautiful white kitten that Bucky named Alpine, after the tree where he found the kitten, shivering and alone. Bucky searched for the kitten’s mother and found that the rest of the litter was killed (likely by a tom) and the mother must’ve only been able to save one kitten. By Bruce’s and Peter’s estimates, the kitten was only a month old and needed a lot of fluids. Bucky and Steve spent hours staying with the kitten, who bonded with Goose when Nick Fury brought her to the base in hopes that a surrogate mother cat would help this kitten’s chance of survival. 

“He’s a survivor, like you,” Bucky deadpanned when Steve marveled at the kitten’s survival, “Doesn’t know when to quit. And seems to be a fighter, by the way he’s going at my hands.”

Fast forward to the beginning of December, Alpine had grown to be a healthy four month old kitten, with a tendency to get on top of a high vantage point. Bucky could not have been more proud of this cat, and was tempted to rename Alpine.

Steve, however, insisted that Alpine was a cuter name and suited the cat better.

Now with all of these new people coming in and everyone trying to figure out who was going to room where. Alpine had no issue with a crowd of people, but only if he was in the lap of either Bucky or Steve or he had a vantage point. Currently, he was curled up in Steve’s lap, purring softly as Steve lazily petted him. 

“He’s being held hostage by the cat!” Peter exclaimed, dropping down from the ceiling and landing a good few feet away from the couch Steve was sitting on. 

“Is he now?” Shuri asked as she breezed into the room, Bucky not far behind on her heels.

“No, I was actually enjoying some peace and quiet,” Steve said.

“At that rate of letting Alpine sitting in your lap,” Bucky deadpanned, “You’re going to turn into a skeleton.”

“What’s the best way to free America?” Peter asked, glancing to Shuri and Bucky. Shuri shrugged, while Bucky gave a small smirk, darted out of the room, and locating the socks with catnip in them, came back with it.

“Catnip?” Shuri asked. Bucky nodded, and held the socks up to Alpine. Alpine lifted his head, and as Bucky moved back, Alpine stretched, before jumping out of Steve’s lap. Bucky dropped the toy, allowing Alpine to bat it around. Steve stood up and thanked Bucky with a small kiss. 

“That should keep him occupied for a bit,” Steve said, “Anyone up for helping the Bartons move into their guest floor?” 

<>-<>-<>-<>

The day after the Bartons came, their kids wanted to check out the nearby town, something about last minute shopping for gifts for the rest of the Avengers. Or maybe some small sweets shop. Bucky and Steve agreed to accompany the three Barton kids, along with Shuri and Peter. 

The kids eagerly run all over town, ducking into sweet shops to see the candies or looking at the toys. Bucky and Steve already got their gifts for the Avengers, while Peter and Shuri discussed what kind of sweets each of the Avengers liked. Soon, they got their gifts and were beginning to head back to their car when one of the kids saw a sign for the animal shelter. Begging to just see what kind of animals were there, Bucky and Steve caved in to their pleas and went in.

Steve quickly struck up conversation with the workers, while the kids looked around. Bucky followed the kids, or at least tried to, since Shuri and Peter split off in one direction while the Barton kids in another. He followed the Barton kids, figuring that the two teens would be fine on their own. They’re busy cooing over the various dogs of all sizes and ages.

“Don’t think your parents will want you bringing home a pack,” Bucky says quietly when Cooper stares at one of the dogs for too long. 

“I know. But maybe you and Uncle Steve would like to have one?” Lila asked, pointing to a dog laying in its enclosure. Bucky raised his brows, but goes over to look at it. The dog’s about middle-aged, and looks to be a Rottweiler with scars that race each other over its back and sides.

“Hey,” Bucky says, crouching down and extending his right hand to the door. The dog raises its head but didn’t move from where it lay. 

“Think they’ll get along with Alpine?” Steve asks, popping up from wherever he was. 

“Since we’re semi-retired, we can put in the time and effort to introduce the two,” Bucky says, “You really want to adopt them? I’m game if you are.”

“Yes,” Steve says.

“She,” one of the workers Steve was talking to earlier said, “She, and we did some tests and she’s almost three months pregnant.”

“Oh, we’ll adopt her,” Bucky declares and Steve nods.

<>-<>-<>-<>

Getting Alpine and the Rottweiler used to each other was easier than they thought. Naming her and introducing her to the rest of the Avengers? That was more difficult. 

“We’ve had her for three days and we still can’t figure out a good name for her!” Steve said, thumping his head on the desk and passing another list of crossed-off names for Bucky to crumple up. Bucky threw yet another ball at Alpine, who batted it around, pleased to have an eight toy. The Rottweiler in question was curled up in a dog bed in the corner, watching them with a tired but semi-bemused expression.

“You’re worrying about names?” Natasha asks from the door, “I vote to name her Lyudmila.”

“Not exactly the type of dog that suggests ‘sniper’,” Bucky says, picking up a crumpled paper and flicking at Natasha. Natasha lazily catches it and her brow raises. Bucky sighs. 

“How about Star? For the star-shaped mask on her face?” Bucky asks. 

“That’s really plain, Bucky,” Natasha says. Bucky shrugs.

“What, you want me to go above and beyond?” 

“How about Starbuck?” Natasha challenges.

“What?” Steve asks, turning in his chair.

“Why not?” Natasha asks, “What do you think, Starbuck?” The dog raises her head and barks.

“Traitor,” Bucky mumbles.

“The dog has spoken,” Steve says, sighing.

“Couldn’t you have come in earlier?” Bucky asks, pinching the bridge of his nose with his right hand, “Could’ve saved some paper.”

“And let Alpine have less toys? I don’t think so.” Natasha says.

“Starbuck it is,” Steve interrupted the fight, sighing, “Let’s tell the rest of the team.”

<>-<>-<>-<>

“You were the Winter Soldier! How are you so bad at a snowball fight?!” Tony taunts as he throws yet another snowball at Bucky, who easily dodges the cold projectile while cradling his massive snowball.

“Metal. Hand.” Bucky growls, and tosses the even larger snowball back at Tony, who dodges easily. Laughing, Tony easily rolls two and throws them at Bucky. Frustrated, Bucky tackles Tony into the snow.

“Watch the heart condition!” Tony wheezes. Bucky panics and gets off. 

“I’m sorry!” Bucky scrambles, looking around as the other Avengers stop their snow fight and scramble up to Tony. Rhodey and Bruce examine Tony, asking for him to remove his shirt. Bucky isn’t aware that he froze up until Steve puts a hand on his shoulder. 

“If it makes you more comfortable, at least you weren’t intentionally aiming for his chest,” Steve whispers in Bucky’s ear.

“In my defense, neither of these incidents don’t include me attempting to kill him, only to get him out of the way temporarily,” Bucky murmurs back, but keeps his eyes on Tony. 

“You okay, Tony?” Sam asks before either Bucky or Steve could. Tony grunts as he attempts to sit up, Rhodey and Bruce bracing his back.

“Yeah, just the wind knocked out of me, that’s all,” Tony quietly says as he puts his shirt back on.

“You good, Tony?” Steve asks. Tony startles at the question.

“Yeah, don’t stop the snowball fight on account of me! Though I’m going to be on the sidelines for a bit, I’m still feeling the side effects of the Infinity Stones.” Tony declares, and with the help of Bruce and Rhodey, makes it back inside the compound. 

“It feels wrong to have fun while Tony has to go and rest up. I’m going back inside as well.” Bucky says quietly.

“I’ll follow you then, there’s nothing out here for me. Besides, I want to check on Starbuck and Alpine.” Steve responds, and both trudge through the snow and make their way to their floor. Alpine meows from the top of his cat tree as they come in, and both make their way to Starbuck’s corner in their private back room. 

“Hey girl,” Bucky greets, rubbing the dog’s head, “She looks due in a few days.”

“Are we really ready for this?” Steve asks. Bucky raises a brow.

“Come on, you’re telling me that the man who just accepted a serum to make him better, the man who walked into a HYDRA base with a semblance of a plan and virtually no armor, the man who just dove a plane into the ocean because he was unwilling to live in a world without me, fought me, and took on the world so that I wouldn’t be tried for something I had no control over, is not ready to be a dad?” Bucky teases. Steve sighs.

“It’s not about being a parent, it’s that...can we really be like normal people? Taking care of pets, having a family, going on dates?” Steve asks.

“You were never a normal person to begin with, punk,” Bucky teases and gently kisses Steve’s cheek, “And neither of us have known a normal life. All we can do is move forward, Steve.”

“I know,” Steve says, “We should probably get some rest. Be ready for anything.”

“Yeah, we should.”

<>-<>-<>-<>

Starbuck woke them in the middle of the night, whimpering loudly. Steve and Bucky were quick to bolt out of bed, assess the situation, and determine who to get. Bucky stayed with her as Steve ran to get the other Avengers. Hours later, as the sun began to peak over the horizon, Steve and Bucky were proud to say that Starbuck was now a mother of four wriggling puppies that stole everyone’s hearts. Steve, Sam, Bucky, and Natasha remained in the room as everyone filtered out, letting Starbuck have her bonding time with the pups while also keeping an eye on her. Tony promised them that he’d get the live cam set up and will wire F.R.I.D.AY. in the room to keep watch on her 24/7 so that she could alert the team if anything goes wrong.

The holidays were pretty relaxed after that, people exchanging their gifts rather peacefully, not counting incidents when parents took several Avengers to a backroom to try and explain that knives were not the best gift for young children. Bucky personally disagreed with the parents, they were excellent gifts and everyone should at least have a new blade every year. 

Steve and Bucky promised that next year, when the pups were weaned, three of them would find new homes while they would keep the fourth one. 

“That was a rather successful holiday, won’t you say?” Tony asked as time crawled closer to midnight, flopping onto the couch and laying his head in Pepper’s lap.

“No one caught on fire, that’s for sure,” Pepper assured, gently brushing his face. 

“Well, good night everyone,” Sam said, then left as everyone murmured their good-nights to him. The other Avengers dispersed, even Tony and Pepper, eventually leaving Steve and Bucky in the room. Both glanced at each other and shrugged.

“You tired?” Bucky asked. Steve shook his head.

“I could stay awake for three days if I tried,” Steve tried to joke. Bucky rolled his eyes.

“On one hand, I’d say that the serum can keep me going. On the other, I’m over 100 years old, so I need my sleep.” Bucky said, Steve snickering at his comment.

“You’ll never let that go, will you, jerk?” Steve asked, but let Bucky lead him out of the room. Bucky gently kissed Steve’s temple as they walked, and leaned his head against his shoulder.

“Happy holidays, love,” Bucky murmured once they got into bed.

“Happy holidays to you too, Buck.”

**Author's Note:**

> The puppies are Rottskies (Rottweiler-Husky mix). Flopped around the Internet, looked at most common dog breeds in pounds, found Rottweiler as one of the top breeds, decided to have the dog pregnant with puppies, and decided to look at Rottweiler mutts. There were several other contestants for the mix, but I decided on Husky mix because they're so cute and pretty.
> 
> Anyways, happy holidays, don't freeze, and may 2020 be excellent!
> 
> Bonus: Here's my thought process at the beginning of writing this:
> 
> AU premise: Yes, Thor: Ragnarok occurred. CA: Civil war happened. Infinity War and Endgame happened, but Steve returned to Bucky and starts dating him. I don’t have an actual concept of time but w/e. Also no one died in Endgame, there was this weird thing with the Soul Stone (they went back in time and found a time where the Soul Stone would be active and Tony only lost his arm and he’s still recovering from the Reverse Snap/Blip i’m tired it’s 12:21  
> AH CRUD STARK TOWER IS OUT AND THE WEIRD BASE THING IS IN  
> So Thor won’t be muscular bod, but he will be a little more cleaned up then what we saw in Endgame.  
> Also Far From Home sort of happened


End file.
